Gotcha is a zapper game for NES that also mixes in the use of the controller. The plot is that you are in a paintball fight with another team. The object is to go to the other teams flag, take it, and bring it back while stopping them from taking your flag. The game has 3 levels, but loops them endlessly. I play the first 3 levels and stop, since there is no ending sequence to that game. I played on the hardest difficulty. In this difficulty the enemies are more numerous, and the time they spend aiming at you is shorter (thus requiring better reflexes).
This game is boring, and has no value other than a Vault any% run. I chose it to test zapper support in the new .bk2 file format as a proof of concept. Please don't vote yes, you know you weren't entertained, don't lie!
Considerations for optimization
The main object is to whole Right on the controller and then left after the flag, optimally. In a TAS, there should be no reason to have to stop and shoot something, you can do it along with way with perfect reflexes.
Shooting does not cost you time (unless it causes lag that halts screen scrolling)
Lag management can be done with careful planning with when to shoot people
Extra ammo accumulates score at the end of the level which costs time, so I use up all my extra ammo
Don't get shot, which is a trivial consideration in a TAS
Shoot the guy that steals your flag, again trivial in a TAS
If the game is as bad as you're saying maybe you could choose a more entertaining game for demonstrating the zapper support, unless there isn't other viable option.
If the game is as bad as you're saying maybe you could choose a more entertaining game for demonstrating the zapper support, unless there isn't other viable option.
Truly a classic for the ages. Especially the way the music resets every time you shoot someone. Truly, I was entertained for a whopping 30 seconds...maybe.
Honestly the only entertaining zapper game superplay I've ever seen was a robot that knew how to play Duck Hunt. It had a zapper mounted on servos and a camera to look at the screen, spot the ducks, and shoot them. And it was pretty successful too!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
If the game is as bad as you're saying maybe you could choose a more entertaining game for demonstrating the zapper support, unless there isn't other viable option.
In my mind it's absolutely unnecessary to TAS zapper games because they are not funny at all! I remember Randil's TAS on Duck Hunt which was the funniest of all zapper games (I think), but it's still boring.
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Lazy to fire it up and watch in emu. How many lag frames are there for example on first stage? Would it be possible to fire at specific frames to decrease lag frames?
What about pause button (start) to manipulate the game depending on it's frame length to unpause it and effectiveness?
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Joined: 6/23/2009
Posts: 2227
Location: Georgia, USA
To those who are saying all Zapper games are boring:
A game that only uses the Zapper is generally boring. However, there have been good games that have mixed in some shooting parts with other modes of play, and sometimes those shooting parts have been entertaining. (One good example is Vice: Project Doom, and another example is Bayou Billy. They didn't use the Zapper, but I imagine they could have.)
I was surprised to see that the shots did not, in fact, slow you down. This is much better support for the Zapper than we had back when we had that submission for Gumshoe. Say what you will about this game, but Gumshoe was way worse to sit through. At least this one was done in 3-4 minutes.
You didn't return your own flag in Stage 2. I'm docking style points for that ;-) I don't know how you fired as much as you did in Stage 3 without spending ammo, though, so props for that.
I admit I was expecting this game to be more anime-looking and Engrish-y (like Super Dodge Ball) with that title. Oh well.
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically.
Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.)
Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html)
Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature!
Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
You're absolutely right, adelikat, this game is crap and the TAS is boring ^^
But of course this still should be published, just lock it up in the vault.
Current project: Gex 3 any%
Paused: Gex 64 any%
There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
Lazy to fire it up and watch in emu. How many lag frames are there for example on first stage? Would it be possible to fire at specific frames to decrease lag frames?
What about pause button (start) to manipulate the game depending on it's frame length to unpause it and effectiveness?
Lag Frame after First Round starts on 3734, Lag Frames(Red Colored) stop around 4600.
To those who are saying all Zapper games are boring:
A game that only uses the Zapper is generally boring. However, there have been good games that have mixed in some shooting parts with other modes of play, and sometimes those shooting parts have been entertaining. (One good example is Vice: Project Doom, and another example is Bayou Billy. They didn't use the Zapper, but I imagine they could have.)
That's right! All games which contain different modes of play, like FPS and side-scroller, don't support zapper, so all zapper games are boring!
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
Í was entertained. I had never seen the game before and it was presented to me fully, in optimal time! This movie is definitely entertaining and useful, unless you don't care about the phenomena called "video games" in general. For me, this TAS is more entertaining than Mona Lisa. Less ambiguous too.
You'll all get banned all who voted no lul
(joking)
Current:
Rayman 3 maybe? idk xD
Paused:
N64 Rayman 2 (with Funnyhair)
GBA SMA 4 : E Reader (With TehSeven)
TASVideos is like a quicksand, you get in, but you cannot quit the sand
